; there is no deity worthy of worship except You.”1 The revealed texts conveying this meaning are numerous.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Seeking forgiveness has indeed pervaded the people of monotheism and has been coupled with the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah—from the first of them to the last, from the last of them to the first, and from the highest to the lowest. The scope of monotheism and seeking forgiveness encompasses all creation. They occupy varying ranks before Allah, and every person who acts has a known station. Sincerely and certainly testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah eradicates every form of associating partners with Him: subtle and manifest, inadvertent and deliberate, earlier and later, concealed and open. It eradicates all its forms, hidden aspects, and subtleties. Seeking forgiveness then effaces whatever lapses remain and effaces sin, which is a branch of associating partners with Allah, for all sins are branches thereof. Monotheism eradicates its root, while seeking forgiveness effaces its branches. Thus, the most profound praise is to say, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,’ and the most profound supplication is to say, ‘I seek Allah’s forgiveness.’”2

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined monotheism and seeking forgiveness in the hadith of Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him), recorded in Sunan al-Tirmidhī. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Allah Almighty said: ‘O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and place your hope in Me, I shall forgive you for whatever you have done, and I do not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and you then sought My forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins that nearly filled the earth and then meet Me without associating anything with Me, I would come to you with forgiveness that nearly filled it.’”3.